Jessica Anthony

Jessica Anthony is the author of The Convalescent. She has been a butcher in Alaska, an unlicensed masseuse in Poland, a secretary in San Francisco. Her stories have appeared in Best American Nonrequired Reading, Best New American Voices and elsewhere. She has recently received fellowships from the Creative Capital Foundation and the Bogliasco Foundation. In 2017, while writing Enter the Aardvark, Anthony was working as “Bridge Guard,” guarding the Maria Valeria Bridge between Štúrovo, Slovakia and Esztergom, Hungary. Normally, she lives in Maine.

Her novel ENTER THE AARDVARK was published in 2020 by Doubleday UK. Her next novel, THE MOST, will be published by Doubleday UK in 2024. 

Praise for ENTER THE AARDVARK (2020):

'Achingly funny farce... Who would have guessed that a satire about an oily Republican congressman, 19th-century taxidermy and a creature so ugly it resembles "a pig screwed by a donkey" would be the perfect tonic for testing times? This is what Jessica Anthony's insouciant and ingenious novel delivers in fewer than 192 achingly funny pages. [...] Light on its feet, utilising second-person narration to great effect... Anthony's voice is all her own: deliciously astute, fresh and terminally funny.' Jude Cook, Guardian

'What begins as a topical takedown of the American political system deepens into a hugely enjoyable romp through history – and all because of a stuffed aardvark. [...] Madcap and satirical without ever being flippant, Anthony’s novel is totally unrealistic yet completely truthful.' Ben East, Observer

'The structure [of Enter the Aardvark] doesn't so much intrigue as ensnare you, weaving its cat's cradle of a plot as you lie there, strapped to a table. Dovetailing coincidences and epiphanies, profound and slapsticky, hilarious and depressing at once, [it] is brutally suited to our moment of absurd political theater.' LA Times

'Enter the Aardvark begins with a breathless description of the creation of our planet - setting the tone for the rest of the endearingly odd book. [...] Sharp, inventive and very funny, it's an entertainingly bizarre political satire.' Tatler

'The politician's narration, which is written in the second person, captures his gnawing agitations with the world, which quickly fester to anger. It's this rage that Anthony methodically - and hilariously - picks apart through her protagonist's misguided obsession with how he's perceived by others. [...] Though Enter the Aardvark is certainly satire, Anthony's depiction of Wilson's repressed sexuality cuts beneath the surface. Her dissection of Wilson's political beliefs, particularly his anti-abortion stance, isn't just sharp commentary on polarization, identity and power in the U.S. It's also a poignant examination of what happens when we deny ourselves the ability to love and be loved.' TIME

‘It’s a long time since I have enjoyed a novel so much. Fresh, witty and smart it also has a heart. What more could you want? And who would have thought that you could become emotionally attached to a stuffed aardvark?’ Kate Atkinson

‘Enter Jessica Anthony. With her highly inventive, ever attentive, and morally serious (as all great comedy must be) Enter the Aardvark, she estranges all over again our deplorable political moment, and thereby helps make it bearable.' Joshua Ferris

'Enter the Aardvark is one wild ride: a condemnation, a haunting, a song of love, a madcap political thriller—and it is absolutely unputdownable.' Laura van den Berg

'Jessica Anthony is a writer possessed of mind-bending talents.' Heidi Julavits

'I've been waiting a long time for a book like Jessica Anthony's Enter the Aardvark, a book that not only manages to bridge supposedly unbridgeable divides in politics, in time, in geography, in love and sex, but also manages to do so by way of a time-traveling taxidermied aardvark. If that sounds unlikely, well, yes, exactly, that's why I've been waiting for so long for it—this unlikely, hilarious, moving, ingenious book. Enter the Aardvark is an absolute original.' Brock Clarke

'The story of how [a politician's] career descends into scandal and farce is told with terrific wit, as Anthony comically disembowels [him] and then stuffs him again for good measure. [...] To tell any more of the plot would spoil this twisty, meditative book, which is part satire, part ghostly mystery. [...] Enter the Aardvark sizzles with uproarious fun, from its snout to the sting in its tale.' Gulf Today

'A feverish, rollicking beast of a book. Totally assured, completely unpredictable, Jessica Anthony has created a true original.' Simon Wroe

‘Mischievously zoological and darkly satirical – a brilliant novel' John Ironmonger